It is a known fact that oxygen has a deleterious effect on the quality of wine over a period of time. The chemistry of wine is very complicated and the various ingredients and flavoring agents that constitute its bouquet and flavor might be over a thousand. Many of these substances, which may appear in trace quantities, will be directly oxidized.
In some instances this oxidation affects the wine in a visible way. The coloring agent of the wine after oxidation may not only completely change the color of the wine, but might also leave a residue of the oxidized coloring matter at the bottom. Thus an attractive red wine, if left exposed to oxygen for a period of time such as by recorking a partially consumed bottle, would likely be reduced to a brown rust color with a layer of sediment across the bottom.
In addition to the disasterous effects of oxidation on both the flavor ingredients and the color, ozidation ultimately results in a conversion of unoxidized flavor components into acetic acid.
Because of these actions of atmospheric oxygen, it is ordinarily understood that a good bottle of wine must be completely consumed at one sitting. Whereas wineries have inert gas systems to protect the wine during its processing, and wine bars often have a nitrogen system which will in essence permit the tapping of several bottles of wine simultaneously while replacing the displaced wine with slightly pressurized nitrogen. Both aforementioned systems are limited in scope to either bulk quantities (at the winery level) or a specific number of pressurized bottles.
There is a real need therefore for a simple system which is easily used by individual connoisseurs, commercial wine establishments and restaurants alike, whereby an unlimited number of bottles of wine can be preserved in an inert gas between uses.